It turns out recent reports of Messenger soon becoming history are true as Microsoft confirmed them and the timeframe as well.

It’s worth noting that Messenger will continue to be available in mainland China. However, the rest of the world will see it retired starting in Q3 2013.

Apparently, some 100 million Messenger accounts will be migrated to Skype. It is said that most of messaging tasks are already on Messenger backend and Microsoft will take necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition.

While most could see it coming, it definitely will be a bit strange without Messenger. Well, having used it since day one, it also makes me feel old, but that’s a whole another story. [You are old and you should feel old. Ed]

It has come to our attention that Redmond is planning to put down Windows Live Messenger and replace it with Skype.

Apparently, a few sources from the company claim the service will be completely integrated with Skype in the following months. The announcement may even come this week and it appears IM will be history come New Year’s. They better sort out Skype by then, as we are hearing quite a few complaints about Skype - MSN integration.

Microsoft has moved most of Skype’s messaging tasks over to Messenger - as much as 80 percent in fact. At the same time, users will have an option of logging into Skype with their Messenger accounts and retaining their contacts.

Microsoft’s Xbox Team issued a call for what it is calling the “2012 Xbox LIVE Update Public Beta.” According to the latest information that we have, shortly after posting the link the beta already reached the level of participants that Microsoft was looking for, and it was promptly closed.

From what we have been able to cobble together from a number of sources, the beta will include testing of the latest dashboard revisions as well as Internet Explorer for Xbox, personalized dashboard recommendations, and enhanced category search and discovery functionality. Whispers suggest that this might be only the first wave of stuff that participants will be testing, and more may come later.

It would seem that Microsoft is focusing on feedback and suggestions and is looking for participants to be very active in the beta process. We think that it is a great way to help shape the platform for users that have the time to be involved.

This update is being viewed by many as the last major overhaul of the Xbox dashboard and system software as far as adding major feature additions. Many expect that while Microsoft will still release additional updates going forward, the focus will likely start to shift toward the future and Xbox Next.

Microsoft has confirmed what has become nearly an annual tradition on the Xbox 360: the Summer of Arcade. This year, the Summer of Arcade will start on July 18th and run till August 15th. Microsoft will be offering a 400 point credit to anyone who purchases three of the five Summer of Arcade titles.

The titles this year will be:

Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD – July 18th – 1,200 MSP / $15

Wreckateer – July 25th – 800 MSP / $10

Deadlight – August 1st – 1,200 MSP / $15

Hybrid – August 8th – 1,200 MSP / $15

Dust: An Elysian Tail – August 15th – 1,200 MSP / $15

As you can see, all except one title this year will set you back 1,200 Microsoft Points or $15 for those playing our home game. The only 800 Microsoft Point title, which is Wreckateer, is a Kinect title and had quite a good showing at the Microsoft E3 Press Conference. We expect that this might be the hidden gem of the bunch for those of you that are Kinect owners.

The rest of the titles are also looking pretty darn good, and Activision and developer Robomoto are banking heavily on the popularity of bringing back the new HD version of Tony Hawk Pro Skater. We are already hearing that extra content is coming in the form of additional maps for this one, and it is going to cost you more than the 1,200 Microsoft Points if you want to get all of the additional maps. It looks pretty good, however, and could finally breathe some new life into a franchise that has needed some help for a time.

The other titles also look really interesting, and early signs seem to suggest there is not a dog in the bunch. It appears that I will be dipping into my points again this summer to spend time playing these new titles.

Minecraft is turning out to be pretty darned big on the Xbox 360, with the initial sales numbers setting new records for titles sold on Xbox Live Arcade.

Now, we hear that Minecraft for the Xbox 360 has been able to rack up over 1 million copies sold in just five days from its launch on May 9th. This means the title has generated over $20 million at the $20 sale price.

Markus “Notch” Persson, the developer of the original Minecraft, said that the news that players of the 360 version have already spent more than 5.2 million hours mining and playing over 4 million multiplayer sessions, while logging over 2.4 million hours of multiplayer play, defied words; and all he could say was “wow.” We think that pretty well sums it up Markus, and we don’t think this trend is going to end anytime soon.

Video gaming’s favorite frog is set to be released from retro land and return in a new downloadable edition. The new title will be called Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition and is set for release in the spring of 2012, according to Konami.

Konami says that this will be the most challenging re-invention of the game yet. The game will offer a mix of new and old, with updated core mechanics and a variety of new concepts in a number of game modes to test even the best Frogger fans.

While the title has received new updated graphics, players can retro-ize the look of the game back to the 8-bit sprites of yesteryear from the original Frogger. Players can compete against each other, or even the CPU. The game also offers a 4 player mode to see who is king of the pond.

The game will be offered in download form only to start with. It will be making its way to Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360, The PlayStation Network store for the PlayStation 3, and the WiiWare store for the Wii players. A price has yet to be announced, but sources tell us to expect a $15 (or 1,200) Microsoft Points price tag when the game is released. Other than announcing that it will release in the spring, no specific release date has been announced.

Sources are confirming that Microsoft is raising the max gamerscore limits for Xbox Live Arcade titles starting on June 1st. In addition, developers will be able to have a little more flexibility for DLC add-ons over the life of the arcade title, which means more Achievements with a new possible max cap of 62 with DLC add-ons.

If correct, the base Gamerscore for an Xbox Live Arcade title will move from 200 points/20 achievements to 400 points/30 achievements. With DLC allowing for another eight achievements per quarter (with a max of 100 points for a maximum of four quarters) this provides a new total of 800 maximum per Xbox Live Arcade title with max cap of 62, which is quite a jump from the old max of 35.

The additional gamer score addition is voluntary for releases coming between April 1st and May 31st ; but starting June 1st this will be the new norm for Xbox Live Arcade Gamerscore and Achievements going forward.

In what has nearly become an annual event, Microsoft has confirmed that they will be kicking off their Xbox Live Arcade House Party 2012 promotion starting on February 15th.

While Microsoft has not yet released the actual pricing of the titles or in which order the titles will be released as part of the House Part Promotion, they did come clean and tell us what titles to expect. The titles include:

Those attending CES can get a sneak peak at these titles in the Microsoft booth. Additional information on the specific release dates and pricing is expected to be announced before February 15th; but sources tell us that we should expect the majority of them to go for 1,200 Microsoft Points, or $15, which has become the norm these days.

Have you gotten an “Error 80154B7” or even an “Error 80070571” which are both related to your Xbox Live profile? Microsoft is aware of the issue, and they have been hearing about these issues since the release of the new dashboard update.

Microsoft is working on this, and in the meantime you can report the problem to Microsoft customer service and get additional help that way. Microsoft continues to work on finding a resolution, but some of the suggested resolutions we have heard from others don’t seem to work; calling Microsoft might be your best option, as they would like to know what you were doing prior to getting this error.

Microsoft’s cloud based future keeps looking shaky every time there is an outage. The technology is based on an assurance that companies can't lose data and can access it on demand.

However this morning Redmond was again in the embarrassing position of having to put its hand up to another outage. Microsoft says email services to most customers using Windows Live Hotmail and Messenger have been restored following a worldwide outage.

The software company said services are back, but warned customers could still have problems logging on to their email accounts as the changes made to the system made their way through the network, through its Windows Live blog. Microsoft’s cloud-based software Office 365 was also affected by the outage.

The speculation is that Microsoft was caught in a power blackout that hit San Diego, although we would have thought it would have had some backup servers.